PlainClimate

U.S. Climate Rankings

Query-shaped national rankings from NOAA's 1991-2020 Climate Normals: hottest cities and states, coldest states, and clear-sky leaders, plus 7 tabbed explorers for warmest, coldest, wettest, driest, snowiest, comfort, and seasonal swing.

Data updated August 2026

Rankings directory, the verdict

Four query-shaped national rankings plus 7 tabbed city explorers, all drawn from NOAA's 1991-2020 Climate Normals across 3,917 rankable places and 50 states.

78.8°F
Key West, FL hottest city mean
72.6°F
Florida hottest statewide mean
33.5°F
Alaska coldest statewide mean
71.3%
Arizona clearest-sky share

Each card opens a dedicated ranking page; tab explorers below scan the top 25 for one metric without replacing those pages.

Hottest cities →

Mean temp

Top station-mapped places by NOAA annual mean temperature.

Current leader

Key West, FL 78.8°F

  1. 1. Key West, FL 78.8°F
  2. 2. Marathon, FL 78.8°F
  3. 3. Tavernier, FL 77.8°F

Hottest states →

Statewide

All 50 states ranked by statewide annual mean temperature.

Current leader

Florida 72.6°F

  1. 1. Florida 72.6°F
  2. 2. Hawaii 72.4°F
  3. 3. Louisiana 67.3°F

Coldest states →

Statewide

Statewide cold ranking from the same 1991-2020 normals.

Current leader

Alaska 33.5°F

  1. 1. Alaska 33.5°F
  2. 2. North Dakota 41.0°F
  3. 3. Minnesota 42.2°F

Sunniest states →

Clear sky

Clear-sky frequency from NOAA normals, state by state.

Current leader

Arizona 71.3% clear

  1. 1. Arizona 71.3%
  2. 2. New Mexico 64.5%
  3. 3. Kansas 61.1%

Explore by metric

Tab views are working explorers (not separately indexed). Open one to scan the top 25 for that metric.

Warmest Coldest Wettest Driest Snowiest Most Comfortable Biggest Seasonal Swing

How to use these rankings

Pick the ranking that matches the question. Do not treat the hub as a second hottest-cities list.

  • Looking for the hottest U.S. places by annual mean temperature? Use the dedicated hottest-cities ranking. Hottest cities
  • Comparing states on heat, cold, or clear skies? Open the statewide ranking pages. Hottest states
  • Want a specific place profile with monthly normals? Browse by state, then open the city page. Browse by state

NOAA normals describe the typical 1991-2020 year; they are not forecasts and do not capture post-2020 warming.

Data source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals v1.0.1 (1991-2020). For informational purposes only.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Open data: plainclimate-city-normals.csv (NOAA 1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals · public domain).

Every figure on PlainClimate is rendered directly from NOAA 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.